Happy Thursday Everyone! Life has been busy lately. I've been writing more regularly, which is awesome. Nothing is ready for you, yet, darling readers,  but don't despair. If I'm writing it means that work is one step closer to being in your hands. Lately I've been thinking a lot about how readers perceive their relationship with writers. The gap is less wide nowadays thanks to social media and the like; however, I still sometimes run across readers who are surprised that writers would want to hear from them. Let me put it to you like this: a while back I heard about a high school classroom that needed books, so I sent copies of some of my Immortal Dreams books (I don't know if it was all of them or the first three). The teacher sent me a card thanking me and telling me her students had already picked them up. I didn't need the teacher to send me a thank you, I was happy to send the books. But that card made my day. It's taped to my dresser mirror and ...

Happy Wednesday Everyone, Wow! Can you believe it? It's release day for Perfect Love ! Perfect Love follows after the events in the first 3 books of the Immortal Dreams series ( Divine Love, Astral Love, Immortal Love ) and picks up several years after Immortal Love. Perfect Love is Hailey, Laney's best friend's story. When I wrote the first 3 books I didn't think about Hailey's story until Immortal Love . It was then I thought, "Hmm. I don't know. I might write Hailey's story. Some time. I better give myself a jumping off point." That's where her letter to Laney near the end of the novel comes in. I needed a place for Hailey's story to start. I thought some people might pick up on it, but I didn't think it would be a big deal. Imagine my surprise when nearly every reader asked me:  "Is Hailey an Immortal? Are you going to write her story, too?" I had toyed with the idea of writing Hailey's story, but I wa...

Happy Thursday All, Lately I've been working on a couple of new projects. One of them has to do with one of my published novels, and the other one is a WIP. Both projects are moving along pretty well and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with them. One of the projects deals with another side of writing that's often talked about, but some authors struggle with--networking. It's funny, but I get asked about this more often than I thought I would. I really don't consider myself an expert on the subject, I'm pretty much doing what everyone else does--picking which social Me with the amazing Christie Craig If I didn't open my mouth and network I wouldn't have gotten to know this gem of a person media works for me, going to writer's group meeting, attending the annual conference, talking to readers, seeing what opportunities open up for me. A lot of authors are shy and/or introverts. Some aren't, but the majority I've come a...

Happy Tuesday Everyone, Bet you never thought you'd see that on my blog, huh? "Bethany runs with lions? What in the world? Is she a safari fanatic and just didn't tell us?" No, I'm not a safari fanatic. In fact, I've never even been on a safari. It's just a reference to my novel, Surreal , which brings me to today's questions: Who do you run with? Who's company do you keep? What type of characters do you have running around in your head? Whether you're a reader, a writer, or both, you have all kinds of characters running in your head. Those characters are the people/creatures you run with. They are your company and companions through a story. They are your safari tour guides and help you navigate the world of the book you're either reading or writing. Sometimes those tour guides are all contemporary human beings. Sometimes they're extraordinary humans, like for example, knights in shining armor, wooing a damsel--the onl...

Happy Friday All, I'm sorry I'm late putting up a post, but I hope I can make it up to you with this one. You probably wouldn't believe me if I said this, but there's a lot of authors in the biz who are very shy. Happily ensconced in their rooms/offices writing, they can let their heroes be brave, bold, incredibly macho men, and the women are soft, sweet, but also with a fire in their hearts (whether it's at the beginning, middle or end). But they have to take several deep breaths and push themselves forward when approaching the unknown. The thing is, we can't live our lives on the sidelines. Authors especially can't do that because we have to network, we have to pitch, we have to greet fans and readers. We have to constantly put ourselves out there. Our stories and online presence are the ice breakers, but we're the main event--we're the ones who have to take that step and put the story out there first --for if we don't, it won't get o...

Happy Tuesday Folks, Oh. My. Gosh. This contest, as I like to say, "rocks my socks". I'm not through putting together details (I'm giving myself and the people involved some space to check up on one part of it). But the prizes that are being donated are gonna be good ! I can't list the prizes (yet), but I'm telling you, those that are donating (and I can't reveal them, yet, either) are really generous beings and they have my most heartfelt gratitude for helping me out in that area. So far I do know I will be running this contest 3 days--giving away something every day, which is fabulous, because then I can have a new winner and really get this party going. Other than author interviews, (which I got one scheduled for February, and working on scheduling a March one) I've never done anything this big on my blog before. (LOL, unless you want to count the times I posted parodies that I wrote). So far it looks like I'll run the contest next wee...

Happy Wednesday Everyone, Titles are important. They tell us what or who something or someone is. In the writing and publishing world they serve another purpose...they're one of the first things a potential reader sees. It's possible that a reader will pick up, look at a book and even read and/or purchase it simply because the title was so intriguing. How do I know? Because this has happened to me. Example: Author Christie Craig (and someone I'm pleased to know--she's such a fun person, by the way) has some really clever titles (I don't know if she has any input in the titles, 'cause sometimes in publishing they get changed) but whomever is doing the title work, they are geniuses (Christie, if you get to keep your titles, then you're a double genius 'cause I already think of you as a genius). Christie has titles like: Gotcha! and Divorced, Deceived & Delicious I mean, seriously...someone is on a roll. Her book coming out in May is another example...